Well, last time I did say why my character is evil, but not why he is taking up this quest.

His motivation is to seek nobility, but he feels he lost more than just a few steps towards that when the city fell, including his family's estate which was his by birth. With the few possessions he was able to smuggle out of the city during its siege he's taken up being a traveling merchant between refugee camps.

But what he truly wishes is to first reclaim what is his by right and he's currently waiting for the right deal to present itself. When it does he'll gladly seek to undermine the Silver Paladin's efforts...
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And the rest will have to be hammered out once we have a settled starting point. I could be a merchant where we all gather picking up on rumors or gather with fellow travelers such as yourselves on the road.

So what are the rest of your guys stories? An outsider skilled in the summoning arts? A wizard obsessed with time? A scimitar wielding tank of a fighter? And an extra someone who as of yet is known as a magus, the rest of the details still secret?

Is it 13 INT that nets you a second language?

On a related note, what's the population of Amarath like? In terms of what language would I like know in addition to common? Normally I go with dwarven cause they tend to be the crafters and merchants in a lot of cities.

I'm fluffing in bits of backstory and personality but I still need to shop for gear. I'll make Squinty help me.

You get +1 bonus languages (in addition to your languages you get from your race) for every point of INT modifier you have. SO a 12 INT should get you a second language.

I feel the need to point out however that my character is fluent in 8 different languages without magical aid, and, with enough prep time, can comprehend, speak, and read or write any language with the right spell. In other words, if you need a translator, I'm it.

Even by the standards of most large cities Amarath's population was huge. No official number exists mostly due to how many people enter the city through unofficial channels though simply walking the streets for a few days could tell you that the population is far higher then the city could logically hold. Overcrowding was a major problem with the major housing sprawls often built several stories high with each story intended to hold an entire family. Obviously the wealthy, powerful or well-connected would have more comfortable living arrangements.

Humans technically were the majority race but that's mostly because a decent percentage of the population were half-breeds or plane-touched and as such were all lumped under the 'human' title. in addition to the 'standard' races many of the wild races such as orcs, goblinoids and even a few ogres called the city home as anyone with enough power to carve themselves a place were welcome within the city. Because of this language was especially varied - human, dwarvern, elven, orc, goblin and giant were all commonly spoken as well as a few of the more obscure languages such as infernal.

The city had no formal religion though it also had no laws preventing priests of questionable deities or outright archdevils from plying their trade in the street. Because of this it wasn't entirely unusual to see lesser demons and devils in the darker corners of the city.

@Zinger : I'll keep that in mind, but I mostly just looking to see what I'd logically speak not looking for the most useful and such.

@Garren : Thanks much, still fluffing my backstory in between studying, I'm not going super far back but just trying to get an idea of where I was at the point of The Fall and help set my motives from here on out.

Garren, any general points about the world that we can use to generate a backstory, or are you open to letting us craft different towns / cities / locations loosely to let you play with? Because right now my summoner is kinda floating around as a proverbial blob awaiting some kinda spark to make it a character.

~SE++

Well if you're from outside Amarath, what brought you here before the seige and subsequent fall of the city?

I'm going to be from the city itself if that helps anyone decide, likely sort sort of guard.

I'm perfectly okay with letting people craft cities / places / people whatever to fill out there back story. The world at the moment basically consists of Amarath and about 10-20 miles in any direction from it. As such any details you want to add to the world are perfectly welcome and may even come up at some point.

I began to write a long and involved backstory. There was quite a bit I wanted to write, but the whole thing went very dark and into a place that I've realized doesn't have a good place on these boards without a NSFW tag. Garren and BH will know this from my current game that pulling punches and throwing the worst I have into a world is kinda what happens to me.... so to save everyone from the stupidity of my creative writing, and the mods a lot of time cleaning it up, I'll just give the bullet points:

Name: Garnet (real name: Lanka Zolin), she uses the name Garnet because she won't say her true name for fear a mage will control her. (no one in the party knows her true name)
Origin: She grew up on the Shadow Plane as all fetchlings do, but her childhood was plagued by minor creatures of the Nine Hells, each time they were preceded by the smell of sulfur. Month by month new monsters, each more deadly than the last would come attack her village. The elders taught her the ways of the summoner to aid in the defense of the city. At the age of eight, one of the monsters finally destroys the town, and Garnet is saved by a mage who told her to never reveal her name or she could be controlled. She never got his name, and she never gave him hers, but he called her Garnet for the blood she was dripping, and she kept the name. He teleported her out of the Shadow Plane into the base world to a city known as Civipine. There she was left without a copper to her name, and she had to become self reliant. Cornered in a back alley, she summoned her eidolon to protect her. There, she staked her claim to that pert of the city, and in the shadows she grew in power. For he appearance of wisps of shadows dancing off of her skin constantly, black hair and gray skin, a completely otherworldly appearance, she was shunned except by the lowest forms of Civipine's society. And there was where she built her personal empire, working the city from behind the scenes, and killing those who got in her way during the night when she could slip through the shadows and feel at home. But then came a crusade to cleanse the city. The neighboring city of Ben'noach, a wealthy city that Garnet had tried to get a foothold in retaliated and sent an army of Paladins, Clerics and Inquisitors to rid their neighboring city of the evils that had befallen it. Again, Garnet had to leave in shame as her second home was destroyed. She fled the fires and holy warriors and slipped out the back of the walls under the cover of darkness, leaving behind all but a few prized possessions. Now in Amarath, she looks to build a new empire and destroy Ben'noach, and bring the world down into a decade of darkness.

But first, she's thirsty and needs a drink.

~SE++

Hmm. I know I originally posted that the city was in the process of being besieged and most of you had already fled (effectively as a DM hand wave as to why you were all together) but would people be interested in my starting the game a few hours earlier as the siege gets underway - with the effective 'first objective' being to escape the place?

Edit: And as a extension to that if anyone wants to know anything about the city please feel free to ask. Also I'm still interested in what a few of you were doing in the city prior to the siege so that would be helpful as well.

Sounds interesting to me to start with the escape. It will give us an idea of our enemy besides just the ones who sacked Amarath.

Also building a just before the fall storyline for my character. I figure to cover some of the details of my character's background in it, like his former lover, why he learned undercommon, what his most recent business dealings were, and why he has a taste for addictive substances.

But first a couple of questions: what did you have in mind for a place of arcane and other potentially dangerous studies within the city? Is it within the city itself? What is its reputation?

Also what did you have in mind for the Undercity? Is it mostly just sewers? Is it the ruins of an older city? Or is it cavernous? What kind of denizens inhabit it?

I'm working equipment. But should be done otherwise.

I can add more backstory if needed but definitely fine with an escape the city intro somehow.

How do you want me to annotate the bonus of Armor Training on my sheet? Change the ACP and Max Dex on my full plate slot to be -2 and +2? Or would you prefer to leave the plate at its default and note the bonsues elsewhere?

I'd prefer you alter the full plates stats to show the bonuses. If I ever look at it and wonder why I will check the sheet before calling you out on it so yeah. Just make sure to note that you have Armour Training under 'Features/Feats' and your golden.

Done. And sheet is all up to date from conversation here and in the Char Op thread.

11400 GP to spend on upgrading my weapon and picking up my mundane gear. I actually think I may buy only the stuff I'd have on me when the story kicked off... so my essentials and such. But I wouldn't be walking around with a fully loaded adventurer's pack with a few thousand GP in stuff shoved in it. But I'd definitely have the barebones stuff and my money.

Also, I'll work on fluffing up my backstory more... and we can discuss boon options. I'm not sure what plans the dark powers could have for a guy that beats people to death with a shield.

While starting with the escape is certainly more exciting, I feel like it would be playing out something we already know the outcome to.

Therefore my vote goes to starting post-escape and picking up the pieces from there.

Knowing how is theoretically supposed to end doesn't mean you know how it will or what happens along the way. After all, there are 20 sides to every story.

True, but I still would prefer to get on with chasing after what we do next than to spend time running from what came before. If that makes any sense.

I'm just sharing my preference, if the majority prefer to start mid-escape then I will side with the majority.

I figured it would actually give a faster paced, more likely to include combat, you know what the goal is sort of intro before leading us out of the city where things slow down and turn into the sandbox.

I like sandbox.